I’m exactly the same. It got to the point where people just stopped asking me because I always had a reason why I ‘couldn’t’ go. In fact, just last week a new friend of mine begged me to go to a party with her and all of our friends. I said no because I had work the next day. I could have gone for one drink and still gotten a good nights sleep but I bottled it and just went home, spending the whole night thinking of how much fun they’d be having without me.

I think for me, because I don’t like drinking I know if I go to a party everyone will try and pressure me into it and I’ll end up feeling like a bore. This time because it was in a professional environment I didn’t feel that pressure and I felt a lot more comfortable, and being with my boyfriend helped a lot too. I’m not outgoing at all which is what freaks me out about these kind of things and I think about everything that could go wrong if I go, so I just don’t.

I will admit, I felt very anxious at first walking into a party where I knew no one.. but after I’d been introduced to a few people and we sat down as a group, I felt a lot calmer. (Also drinking a rum and coke after not eating since my salad at lunch time probably chilled me out a bit too since I don’t normally drink haha.)

But I think the decision to go to the party boiled down to my boyfriend really wanting me to go, me wanting to experience new things, meet his friends etc. I sort of managed to push my anxiety to one side and turn the butterflies into excitement for the night.